means A set sequence of actions performed in a fixed order, often for religious, ceremonial, or personal significance, and repeated with care.

from From Latin 'ritualis,' meaning 'relating to rites,' built on 'ritus' — the established way of doing a sacred act. That same 'ritus' is possibly a distant cousin of words for counting and order, hinting that ritual was always about putting things in their proper sequence. It entered English in the late 16th century, first as an adjective for things pertaining to religious rites, before settling into the noun we know.